doctorwhointernetadventuresfandomcom-20200214-history
CIA06.9
"Father? What's going on here? Came back here? What are you talking about? And who is that behind you?" asked Nyssa. Fergurson walked from behind the familiar figure. "I am probably the last person you wanted to see at this moment." Fergurson pulled out a laser gun and fired at Nyssa's father. Nyssa nearly screamed before Fergurson added, "Don't panic. That was just a clone. The whole place is crawling with them. I don't think Myson will be happy about this." "Fergurson!" Nyssa exclaimed angrily. "What are you doing here?" Fergurson, a Time Lord mercenary, had crossed paths with Nyssa and the Doctor many years before. Nyssa hadn't gotten along well with her during their previous meeting. With the appearance of Fergurson, and the clone of her dead father, everything that was happening on New Traken had just become even more complicated and frightening to Nyssa. "Everything was suppose to appear as if this planet were the perfect replacement for the original Traken. Your friend, Travis, has been working with a technologically advanced group called the Circle — a group led by Myson — to transform this planet into a twisted version of your original Traken Union. He was hoping to eventually brainwash you into believing that's where you were — hence the clone of your father and some other people you knew. There's even a statue of Melkur above." "That's horrible! What are you doing involved in all of this?" "I am helping you only because I made a promise to the Doctor. He and I have been friends for nearly 500 years, and we've promised to keep an eye out for the other's interests and help each other whenever possible." A pause, then, "The other reason I am here is that Myson has really ticked me off — he's left his dictatorship to fall into a black hole while he tries to gain a foothold in this part of space. I have half a mind to vaporise him, but then again, I am a nice — and surprisingly enough calm — Time Lord who recognises that killing a person as important to the Web of Time as Myson wouldn't be without its consequences." Nyssa frowned, but then stood straight and sighed. "I know there has been some bad blood between us in the past, and I know we've had some differences of opinion. If you weren't female and didn't think like a soldier all the time, you could almost be the Doctor," said Nyssa. "I'm going to pretend that you didn't say that," Fergurson said sarcastically, with a smirk on her face. "So, how did you end up here?" asked Nyssa. "A ship dropped me off about two months ago so that I could investigate Sarabiss for the Universal Star Map and Tourist Commission..." The Time Lord reacted to her expression. "What? You've been there, you know how boring Gallifrey is. Anyway, things seemed normal here; too normal for my liking. Then I stumbled onto some talk about you, and that you were coming here to settle the planet. That piqued my interest, and I soon discovered why you were coming here. I had hoped it would have taken you longer to come to this place, like a couple of years, but you turned up before I had a chance to warn you what was going on..." Nyssa was hoping that Fergurson would stop speaking so she could get a word in edgewise, but it was like talking to the Doctor. Nyssa wasn't sure when Fergurson would stop talking, but she hoped it would be soon. Fergurson saw Nyssa's annoyed look, trailed off, and realised that she was seeing Nyssa in a rage for the first time, and didn't know how much more it would take to push her over the edge. In the past, the Doctor had always been there to stop a fight from breaking out between them. Still, she needed to plough on. "There's much more you need to know, Nyssa," said Fergurson. "But I am glad that only now are we meeting up, after you've seen firsthand some of the things that have been happening and you can believe me. I had honestly hoped that you would be able to make Sarabiss your new home and help your people reclaim their lost serenity." "Some of my people are still alive?" "Word of the entropy effect the Master unleashed in his bid to take over the Universe got to your home world shortly before it overwhelmed the Union. The Keeper helped many of your people flee before it too was destroyed. Don't worry; the Master's not here — I made sure that he will never see or hear of this place." "Where are they?" demanded Nyssa "They're here. On Sarabiss. This is where they settled when they escaped Traken." The news hit Nyssa like a revelation. It was almost too good to believe. But there would be time to think about it later. "How can we stop the Crucible? And what happened to Travis and the people chasing me?" For some reason, Ferguson's face went from stone to a face with emotion, and Nyssa didn't understand why. Then again, she had chosen not to get to know Fergurson all those years ago. "They will be fine; they will feel a little bit drugged and a little bit drunk at first, but they will recover eventually. Stopping the Crucible... I'm afraid Myson is the only one who can do that at this point without destroying the whole planet. He's currently in a ship orbiting the planet. Luckily, they've hidden a transmat to his ship behind the Melkur statue I mentioned a level above. I believe you were going up? I need to get off the planet, anyway, and report my findings. Shall we?" Fergurson pointed at the ladder that was affixed to the wall of the chamber. They both climbed to the top of the ladder. A small beeping went off from a device at Fergurson's waist as she closed the hatch door above the ladder. Fergurson smiled — soon she would be able to get away from this wasteland of a planet and resume travelling in space in her own ship Fergurson led them down a corridor to the Melkur, and showed Nyssa the transmat behind it that would lead her to Myson. "I think you have already figured out what's going to happen to this planet?" confirmed Fergurson as she turned to face Nyssa. "The core is going to implode, creating another black hole in this region, one that Travis was hoping to use as an energy source" said Nyssa. "How did they drill down to the planet's core so easily? Was the planet partially hollow?" "And you only started to think about this when you were on that small platform looking into the centre?" asked Fergurson. "Well," Nyssa stumbled over her words, "well, yes, I did. So what? I came to the conclusion a little late, but I had my doubts when I was walking around the planet and noticed subtle shifts in gravity. You know, now that I think about it, I can't believe I didn't realize that the native population was descended from my own people, even after all the people I talked to and encountered. Their own civilisation and culture rose around the same time as my people were killed. And the physical similarities are so obvious in retrospect..." "At first they didn't seem to have a problem with your offworld settlers coming. In fact, they were looking forward to talking to other beings about the major issues in the universe," said Fergurson. "But then the Circle began to stir them up, make them suspicious of your coming. When you arrived, you knew something was wrong, and you didn't know what, and you wish you knew. But you couldn't put your finger on it," said Fergurson. "Something like that," agreed Nyssa. "And you never noticed that thing hovering thing over the planet? It shouldn't be there. It just seems so out of place for the this part of space," Ferguson led her on. "No," Nyssa admitted. "I thought it was just a visiting space ship, but the local people said it wasn't, and they weren't due for tourists for another couple of months. I thought it was odd, but I realised that none of my normal foes were in the area. Then, I was told by some contacts I made in the Circle that Myson was here. That did not make me very happy, and it practically ruined my visit here when I found out," said Fergurson. Another beeping sound came from the communicator Fergurson was holding. It was sending the message that her ship had arrived and would send the shuttlecraft for her. "Just step onto the transmat behind that stone figure and it will send you to deal with Myson," said Fergurson. "I must go; my transport has arrived. Good luck on your quest to make a new home." And with that, Fergurson shimmered and was transmatted to her shuttle craft. Nyssa walked behind the Melkur and saw the transmat pad there. She hesitated. Why was Fergurson so eager to send her through the transmat? What if the real means of stopping the Crucible were still on this planet? She didn't know who to trust any more. There were so many decisions, and such little time. Taking a deep breath, Nyssa stepped onto the transmat and transported to the hovering spaceship above the planet where Myson was. As she rematerialized, she made sure that she kept her wits about her this time so that she would not be overpowered. "She has arrived. Go and fetch her NOW!" ordered Myson. }}